Paint rollers are popular and economical tools used for quickly painting large, flat surfaces, such as walls and ceilings of buildings. Paint rollers generally include a handle and a "roller pad" or "brush." A paint roller brush is generally composed of a cardboard cylinder wrapped by bristled or spongy material capable of absorbing paint. The brush is mounted on a handle, dipped in a container (commonly an inclined pan) of paint to soak the brush, and rolled across the flat surface.
In recent years, water-based paints have become very popular. The number and prevalence of water-based latex and enamel paints has increased dramatically in response to consumer demands for alternatives to petroleum-based paints. Petroleum-based paints are poisonous, sometimes flammable, and environmentally hazardous. Water-based paints can be diluted in water, while petroleum-based paints can be diluted only with harsh petroleum distillates, such as turpentine or kerosene. Cleaning roller brushes that have been used to apply petroleum-based paints requires using these harsh petroleum distillates, which can harm the brush material and dissolve the glue or epoxy used to make the cardboard cylinders of the brushes. Brushes soaked in water-based paint can be cleaned using just water, but cleaning such brushes still can be difficult.
After use, brushes often are soaked in water, or other solvent. Brushes must be washed and rinsed by hand many times in order to remove all the paint. This cleaning process wastes solvent, time, and effort.
Devices have been developed for cleaning paint roller brushes. For example, Permar's U.S. Pat. No. 4,263,055 concerns a method for cleaning a paint roller pad using a device comprising an elongated coil having a shank connected thereto. The coil has an outside diameter less than that of certain roller pads so that the coil may be axially inserted into the bore of the pad. The coil radially expands and engages the roller pad to rotate the pad, which helps remove paint.
Although Permar's invention does radially expand during rotation, it still is designed to accommodate roller pads of only particular sizes. That is, if the diameter of a commercially available roller pad is less than that of the coil when the coil is at rest, then Permar's invention cannot be used with such rollers. Certain countries, particularly countries using the metric system, produce roller pads having bore diameters different from those used in the United States. Furthermore, if a particular roller pad is significantly longer or shorter than the length of the coil, then Permar's device also may have difficulty engaging the roller pad and/or rotating the roller pad to remove paint effectively.
McCauley et al.'s U.S. Pat. No. 5,539,948 concerns a paint roller cleaner adapter. McCauley's invention recognizes the problems of Permar's invention in so far as Permar's invention cannot be used with rollers having bore diameters significantly smaller than common roller pads. McCauley's invention is designed particularly for use with small rollers known as "weenie rollers" or "slim jims." But, McCauley's invention also is not size adjustable for accommodating rollers having diameters or lengths significantly larger than weenie rollers.
Japanese Patent No. 6-312463 describes an invention for cleaning paint roller brushes. A brush is mounted on a holder and rotated about the longitudinal axis of the cylinder. Paint is flung away from the brush as the brush rapidly spins about this axis by centrifugal force. This device is inefficient, and is designed solely as an apparatus for cleaning paint roller brushes.
Based on the above, it is clear that painters, and others using fluids similar to paint, need devices for cleaning roller pads after use. Prior inventions address only some of the needs of painters. As a result, painters still need new and improved roller-pad cleaners.